Homestyle Sausage Stuffing

My Mom’s traditional Thanksgiving stuffing, the one my entire family dreams about all year and descends upon like a pack of starving wolves the moment the bowl hits the table. I’m surprised an eye hasn’t been poked out or a finger stabbed by a marauding fork or that a fist fight hasn’t broken out yet. Yes, it’s that good. Worth fighting for over.

I finally pinned down the recipe and can make it myself. Anytime. No need to wait for Thanksgiving. I could make it every single day for the next year if I really wanted to. . .but that would suck the specialness right out of it. . .so. . . not.

The thing about it is my Mom never really follows an exact recipe – it’s all in her head making it kind of secretive so I had to pin it down. You know, make it myself under her direction like I’m doing rocket science or something.

The basic recipe is to first cook breakfast sausage in a skillet, remove it and sauté the onion and celery in a little of the sausage grease to pick up all that great flavor off the bottom. That all gets mixed together with herbed stuffing, chicken broth and a little melted butter. It’s left to sit a few minutes so the dry stuffing cubes can soak up the broth and soften.

3 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for greasing pan and dotting the top

INSTRUCTIONS:

Set a large skillet over medium heat and brown the sausage, breaking it apart as it cooks into small crumbles. Once it's cooked remove to a large mixing bowl. If there's a lot of grease drain some of it off leaving about a tablespoon in the pan.

Add the onion and celery, season with salt and pepper and cook until tender, stirring often. Add it to the bowl with the sausage. Add the stuffing to the bowl and mix it with the sausage, onion and celery.

Pour the cans of chicken broth over it and mix well. Drizzle the butter over it and mix well. Cover the bowl with plastic and let sit 5 - 10 minutes. You can stuff your turkey with it at this point or bake as directed in the next steps.

My dad always made it this way when we were growing up and now i make it this way, but i add celery and mushrooms then-i double my recipe and freeze it so i can take it out when i get that crazy craving for it.

Hehe, I might be the first to poke an eye out:) I live for the Thanksgiving stuffing, but ours doesn’t have sausage which only makes things 10x better. No wonder this is a favorite! Thank you for sharing it with us Reeni and have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Happy Sunday Reeni!
This is exactly how I do mine too but I do add a little of Bell’s seasoning —I never add eggs like many recipes call for —the stuffing is moist and just like in your family, everyone seems want seconds. I rarely have enough left over for the next day! Your mom sounds like an awesome cook—really good cooks rarely use exact measurements—it’s always a little of this , little of that. Your family is so blessed to have you—a Happy Turkey Day to all of you! XOX

Happy Sunday Doris! We usually don’t have much leftover either! If you want some for a turkey sandwich you have to hide it. Thanks for your sweet comment! Enjoy your Sunday and Happy Thanksgiving if I don’t talk to you before then! xoxo

Hi Reeni!
I knew you were clever but what an outstandingly great idea! I have an old sour cream container and no one would even think of looking there—ah, my stuffing stash finally in a safe place. Hope all of you, your family and Moon person will have a fabulous day. I bet your house will be filled with the most delicious aromas. Enjoy and don’t (or should I say, do) feast your heart out!! XOX